In theory, e-commerce marketplaces connect buyers and sellers, open trade opportunities, and reduce transaction costs thereby creating opportunities for more inclusive trade and even GVC participation, especially for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Further, there is some...

We formulate the problem of designing a personalized recommendation system for an online business-to-business (B2B) marketplace, propose a method to solve it, and evaluate results using field experiments. In this problem, buyers place requests for quotation (RFQs) to the platform, sellers...

This paper analyzes the determinants of pass-through that are specific to vertical relationships between wholesalers and retailers. Fluctuations in input costs (due to, e.g., exchange rate shocks) are transmitted first to the wholesale price, and then to the retail price. The type of vertical...

This paper investigates the effects of mergers, entry, and exit in retail markets when input prices are negotiated. Results are derived from a model of bilateral Nash-bargaining between manufacturers and retailers which allows for general forms of demand and retail competition. Whether...

We investigate how buyer power in the retail market affects suppliers' profitability. Buyer power exists when suppliers depend on a concentrated set of retailers. Further, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, possesses additional buyer power because it has a dominant position in many product...

Conceptually, customer relationship value depends on customer perceptions of the cost of switching to another supplier. Empirical tests of switching cost effects have been hampered because traditional performance measurement systems and customer satisfaction scores do not reflect switching cost...

We study the implications of different contractual forms in a market with an incumbent upstream monopolist and free downstream entry. We show that traditional conclusions regarding the desirability of linear contracts radically change when entry in the downstream market is endogenous rather than...

This paper is interested in the analysis of Blockchains and Smart-contracts applied to inter-firms relationships, in particular the franchise networks. After defining the Blockchain technology and the Smart-contract as a particular type of contract stored in blockchains, we question the theory...

This paper investigates the effects of changes in retail market concentration when input prices are negotiated. Results are derived from a model of bilateral Nash-bargaining between upstream and downstream firms which allows for general forms of demand and retail competition. Whether...

We study how buyer power affects producers' incentives to share information with retailers. Adopting the Bayesian persuasion framework, we show that full information disclosure is optimal only when buyer power is sufficiently low. Using the presence of retail price recommendations as the proxy...